That is a naive thing to say. Open-source work doesn’t become purer when underpaid. Making open-source pay better for everyone, not just a privileged few, will allow more people to join the open-source movement, raising the standard of software quality for everyone.
Helping open-source maintainers get paid is better for open-source. I think what the Devflight people are trying to do is admirable. I hope they succeed.
Everyone who? It's highly unlikely that companies will pay an awful lot of money to these maintainers anyways, so only the less "priviled" (i.e. second/third world citizens mostly) will benefit. Moreover, while some individual maintainers will gain in short term, the developers as a workforce will definitely lose (because certain tasks are taken from freelancers, contract workers and employees and distributed to, well, public). Business does not need more developers (let alone better paid ones), it needs more work done faster and for less money.
Also, I think that most people, who maintain decent OSS projects, have well-paying jobs anyways, so they don't need more money and more work to worry about. What they really need is pull requests and bug reports. Which the business can provide by _hiring_ people, who need money and work, to do the job and send the patches. Double benefit, everyone's happy.
Can I ask. Do you write or maintain OSS code? Do you have large number of users? Do you work full time on OSS? Because your opinions are incredibly naive.
That's completely irrelevant. Working full time on OSS means being a businessman in disguise (and, arguably, perverts the very ideas of free OSS), so we're on the opposite sides of the fence, I presume. Or do you live off something else and work on your projects completely out of sheer altruism?
As someone who has worked many years in open-source, including as a maintainer, I can confirm that you clearly have no clue what you’re talking about. Your argument that somehow, not being paid for our work makes that work better, is 1) idiotic, 2) disrespectful, and 3) damaging to everyone trying to actually contribute. Arguments like yours are exactly what is wrong with open-source today. I’m glad this ridiculous mythology that you’re perpetuating is being challenged by the new generation of maintainers. But by all means, stay on your “side” of the “fence” as you put it. The open-source community has no use for you or your outdated ideas.
Comments
That is a naive thing to say. Open-source work doesn’t become purer when underpaid. Making open-source pay better for everyone, not just a privileged few, will allow more people to join the open-source movement, raising the standard of software quality for everyone.
Helping open-source maintainers get paid is better for open-source. I think what the Devflight people are trying to do is admirable. I hope they succeed.
Everyone who? It's highly unlikely that companies will pay an awful lot of money to these maintainers anyways, so only the less "priviled" (i.e. second/third world citizens mostly) will benefit. Moreover, while some individual maintainers will gain in short term, the developers as a workforce will definitely lose (because certain tasks are taken from freelancers, contract workers and employees and distributed to, well, public). Business does not need more developers (let alone better paid ones), it needs more work done faster and for less money.
Also, I think that most people, who maintain decent OSS projects, have well-paying jobs anyways, so they don't need more money and more work to worry about. What they really need is pull requests and bug reports. Which the business can provide by _hiring_ people, who need money and work, to do the job and send the patches. Double benefit, everyone's happy.
Can I ask. Do you write or maintain OSS code? Do you have large number of users? Do you work full time on OSS? Because your opinions are incredibly naive.
That's completely irrelevant. Working full time on OSS means being a businessman in disguise (and, arguably, perverts the very ideas of free OSS), so we're on the opposite sides of the fence, I presume. Or do you live off something else and work on your projects completely out of sheer altruism?
As someone who has worked many years in open-source, including as a maintainer, I can confirm that you clearly have no clue what you’re talking about. Your argument that somehow, not being paid for our work makes that work better, is 1) idiotic, 2) disrespectful, and 3) damaging to everyone trying to actually contribute. Arguments like yours are exactly what is wrong with open-source today. I’m glad this ridiculous mythology that you’re perpetuating is being challenged by the new generation of maintainers. But by all means, stay on your “side” of the “fence” as you put it. The open-source community has no use for you or your outdated ideas.